JUNE 30 ISSUE ANSWERS (photo to right): This is a cotton gin. Gin is a short form of the word engine. It was invented by Eli Whitney in 1793. It separated the seeds from the cotton plant 50 times faster than a slave could do it by hand. This made raising cotton more profitable. Cotton was being shipped from the South to factories in the East and to Great Britain. Now cotton cloth became cheaper and more cotton clothes were being worn. The invention of the cotton gin was a major turning point in American history. Importing slaves had been outlawed in 1808, but the number of slaves continued to increase through forced breeding and increased need for more slaves due to the new profitability in cotton. The whole southern economy was based on raising more cotton. Another side effect was the fact that plantation cotton farming was ruining the soil along with the division in the American economy leading to the Civil War. Eventually fugitive slaves like Henry Bibb and John Sella Martin came to Romeo to preach against the institution of slavery. R. Beringer, Romeo Historical Society staff